AP Statistics Test A Gathering Data Part III

Name ________________________

___ 1. A company sponsoring a new Internet search engine wants to collect data on the ease of
using it. Which is the best way to collect the data?
A) census
B) sample survey
C) observational study
D) experiment
E) simulation
___ 2. The January 2005 Gallup Youth Survey telephoned a random sample of 1,028 U.S. teens
and asked these teens to name their favorite movie from 2004. Napoleon Dynamite had the
highest percentage with 8% of teens ranking it as their favorite movie. Which is true?
I. The population of interest is all U.S. teens.
II. 8% is a statistic and not the actual percentage of all U.S. teens who would rank this
movie as their favorite.
III. This sampling design should provide a reasonably accurate estimate of the actual
percentage of all U.S. teens who would rank this movie as their favorite.
A) I only
B) II only
C) III only
D) I and II
E) I, II, and III
___ 3. Suppose your local school district decides to randomly test high school students for
attention deficit disorder (ADD). There are three high schools in the district, each with
grades 9-12. The school board pools all of the students together and randomly samples 250
students. Is this a simple random sample?
A) Yes, because the students were chosen at random.
B) Yes, because each student is equally likely to be chosen.
C) Yes, because they could have chosen any 250 students from throughout the district.
D) No, because we cant guarantee that there are students from each school in the sample.
E) No, because we cant guarantee that there are students from each grade in the sample.
___ 4. A basketball player has a 70% free throw percentage. Which plan could be used to simulate
the number of free throws she will make in her next five free throw attempts?
I. Let 0,1 represent making the first shot, 2, 3 represent making the second shot,, 8,
9 represent making the fifth shot. Generate five random numbers 0-9, ignoring
repeats.
II. Let 0, 1, 2 represent missing a shot and 3, 4,, 9 represent making a shot. Generate
five random numbers 0-9 and count how many numbers are in 3-9.
III. Let 0, 1, 2 represent missing a shot and 3, 4,, 9 represent making a shot. Generate
five random numbers 0-9 and count how many numbers are in 3-9, ignoring
repeats.
A) I only
B) II only
C) III only
D) II and III
E) I, II, and III
___ 5. More dogs are being diagnosed with thyroid problems than have been diagnosed in the
past. A researcher identified 50 puppies without thyroid problems and kept records of their
diets for several years to see if any developed thyroid problems. This is a(n)
A) randomized experiment
B) survey
C) prospective study
D) retrospective study
E) blocked experiment

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___ 6. A chemistry professor who teaches a large lecture class surveys his students who attend his
class about how he can make the class more interesting, hoping he can get more students to
attend. This survey method suffers from
A) voluntary response bias
B) nonresponse bias
C) response bias
D) undercoverage
E) None of the above
___ 7. Placebos are a tool for
A) sampling B) blocking

C) blinding

D) control

E) randomization

___ 8. Double-blinding in experiments is important so that

I. The evaluators do not know which treatment group the participants are in.
II. The participants do not know which treatment group they are in.
III. No one knows which treatment any of the participants is getting.
A) I only
B) II only
C) III only
D) I and II
E) I, II, and III
___ 9. Which of the following is not required in an experimental design?
A) blocking
B) control
C) randomization
D) replication
E) All are required in an experimental design.
___ 10.A researcher wants to compare the effect of a new type of shampoo on hair condition. The
researcher believes that men and women may react to the shampoo differently.
Additionally, the researcher believes that the shampoo will react differently on hair that is
dyed. The subjects are split into four groups: men who dye their hair; men who do not dye
their hair; women who dye their hair; women who do not dye their hair. Subjects in each
group are randomly assigned to the new shampoo and the old shampoo. This experiment
A) is completely randomized.
B) has three factors (shampoo type, gender, whether hair is dyed).
C) has two factors (gender and whether hair is dyed) blocked by shampoo type.
D) has two factors (shampoo type and whether hair is dyed) blocked by gender
E) has one factor (shampoo type), blocked by gender and whether hair is dyed.
11. Video games A headline in a local newspaper announced Video game playing can lead to
better spatial reasoning abilities. The article reported that a study found statistically
significant differences between teens who play video games and teens who do not, with teens
who play video games testing better in spatial reasoning. Do you think the headline was
appropriate? Explain.

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12. College students spending A consumer group wants to see if a new education program will
improve the spending habits of college students. Students in an economics class are randomly
assigned to three different courses on spending habits.
a. What are the experimental units?

_____________________________________

b. How many factors are there?

_____________

c. How many treatments are there?

_____________

d. What is the response variable?

_____________________________________

13. Good CDs Brian is a systems manager for a large company. In his work, he has found that
about 5% of all CDs he orders are bad. He needs to give one of the executives at his company
five good CDs. Conduct a simulation to estimate how many CDs Brian will have to check to
get five good CDs for the executive.
a. Describe how you will use a random number table to conduct this simulation.

b. Show three trials by clearly labeling the random number table given below. Specify the
outcome for each trial.
Trial
#1
#2
#3

Simulation
Outcome
03242 50692 18977 28370
78695 21402 85525 81183
60809 06765 39996 81915

c. State your conclusion.

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14. Bone Builder Researchers believe that a new drug called Bone Builder will help bones heal
after children have broken or fractured a bone. The researchers believe that Bone Builder will
work differently on bone breaks than on bone fractures, because of differences in initial bone
condition. Bone Builder will be used in conjunction with traditional casts. To test the impact of
Bone Builder on bone healing, the researchers recruit 18 children with bone breaks and 30
children with bone fractures. Design an appropriate experiment to determine if Bone Builder
will help bones heal.

15. Military funding A college group is investigating student opinions about funding of the
military. They phone a random sample of students at the college, asking each person one of
these questions (randomly chosen):
A: Do you think that funding of the military should be increased so that the United States can
better protect its citizens?
B: Do you think that funding of the military should be increased?
Which question do you expect will elicit greater support for increased military funding?
Explain. What kind of bias is this?

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AP Statistics Test A Gathering Data Part III Key

1. B

2. E

3. C

4. B

5. C

6. D

7. C

8. D

9. A

10. E

11. Video games

No, this was not a controlled experiment, so no determination of cause and effect can be made.
Perhaps there is something about teens who play video games that make them good at video
games and at spatial reasoning, or maybe teens with good spatial reasoning enjoy games more.
12. College students spending
a. The subjects are the students in the economics class.
b. There is one factor (course on spending habits) with three levels.
c. Since there is only one factor at three levels, there are three treatments.
d. The response variable is the spending habits of the students.
13. Good CDs
a. Let the digits 00-04 represent bad CDs and the digits 05-99 represent good CDs. Look at
pairs of digits in the random number table to determine if the CD is good or bad. Continue
this until you get five good CDs.
Trial
Simulation
Outcome
b. Let B = bad and G = good.
03|24|2 5|06|92| 18|977 28370
#1
6 CDs
B
G
G
G
G
G
c. According to my simulation, it will
78|69|5 2|14|02| 85|525 81183
take an average of 5.7 CDs to get
#2
6 CDs
G G G G B G
five good CDs.
60|80|9 0|67|65| 39996 81915
#3
5 CDs
G G G G G
14. Bone Builder

Blocking is employed since breaks and fractures have different initial bone condition. This
experiment can be double blind, if patients and bone evaluators dont know whether or not the
patient was given Bone Builder.
15. Military funding
The first question will elicit greater support for increased military funding. The wording of the
question appeals to the feelings of safety of the respondent. The second question does not do
this it is more neutral and will elicit less response. This is a form of response bias.

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AP Statistics Test B Gathering Data Part III

Name ___________________________

___ 1. Among a dozen eggs, three are rotten. A cookie recipe calls for two eggs; theyll be selected
randomly from that dozen. Which plan could be used to simulate the number of rotten eggs that might
be chosen?
I. Let 0, 1, and 2 represent the rotten eggs, and 3, 4, , 11 the good eggs. Generate two random
numbers 0-11, ignoring repeats.
II. Randomly generate a 0, 1, or 2 to represent the number of rotten eggs you get.
III. Since 25% of the eggs are rotten, let 0 = rotten and 1, 2, 3 = good. Generate two random
numbers 0-3 and see how may 0s you get.
A) I only
B) II only
C) III only
D) I or III only
E) I, II, or III
___ 2. We wish to compare the average ages of the math and science teachers at your high school. Which
is the best way to collect the data?
A) census
B) sample survey C) observational study D) experiment E) simulation
___ 3. Hoping to get information that would allow them to negotiate new rates with their advertisers,
Natural Health magazine phoned a random sample of 600 subscribers. 64% of those polled said they
use nutritional supplements. Which is true?
I. The population of interest is the people who read this magazine.
II. 64% is not a statistic; its the parameter of interest.
III. This sampling design should provide the company with a reasonably accurate estimate of the
percentage of all subscribers who use supplements.
A) I only
B) I and II only
C) I and III only
D) II and III only
E) I, II, and III
___ 4. Suppose the state decides to randomly test high school wrestlers for steroid use. There are 16 teams
in the league, and each team has 20 wrestlers. State investigators plan to test 32 of these athletes by
randomly choosing two wrestlers from each team. Is this a simple random sample?
A) Yes, because the wrestlers were chosen at random.
B) Yes, because each wrestler is equally likely to be chosen.
C) Yes, because stratified samples are a type of simple random sample.
D) No, because not all possible groups of 32 wrestlers could have been the sample.
E) No, because a random sample of teams was not first chosen.
___ 5. Which statement about bias is true?
I. Bias results from random variation and will always be present.
II. Bias results from a sampling method likely to produce samples that do not represent the
population.
III. Bias is usually reduced when sample size is larger.
A) I only B) II only
C) III only
D) I and III only
E) II and III only
___ 6. A researcher identified 100 men over forty who were not exercising and another 100 men over forty
with similar medical histories who were exercising regularly. She followed all the men for several years
to see if there was any difference between the two groups in the rate of heart attacks. This is a(n)
A) survey
B) prospective study
C) retrospective study
D) randomized experiment
E) matched pairs experiment.
___ 7.
A)
C)
D)

Of A-D, which is not a critical part of designing a good experiment?

Control of known sources of variability.
B) Random selection of subjects.
Random assignment of subjects to treatments.
Replication of the on a sufficient number of subjects.
E) All of these are important.

___ 8. In an experiment the primary purpose of blinding is to reduce

A) bias.
B) confounding.
C) randomness.
D) undercoverage.

E) variation.

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___ 9. Does donating blood lower cholesterol levels? 50 volunteers have a cholesterol test, then donate
blood, and then have another cholesterol test. Which aspect of experimental design is present?
A) randomization
B) a control group
C) a placebo D) blinding
E) none of these
___ 10. A researcher wants to compare the performance of three types of pain relievers in volunteers
suffering from arthritis. Because people of different ages may suffer arthritis of varying degrees of
severity, the subjects are split into two groups: under 60 and over 60. Subjects in each group are
randomly assigned to take one of the medications. Twenty minutes later they rate their levels of pain.
This experiment
A) is completely randomized. B) uses matched pairs.
C) has two factors, medication and age.
D) has one factor (medication) blocked by age. E) has one factor (age) blocked by medication type.
11. Insulators Ceramics engineers are testing a new formulation for the material used to make insulators
for power lines. They will try baking the insulators at four different temperatures, followed by either
slow or rapid cooling. They want to try every combination of the baking and cooling options to see
which produces insulators least likely to break during adverse weather conditions.
a) What are the experimental units?
__________________
b) How many factors are there?

__________________

c) How many treatments are there?

__________________

d) What is the response variable?

__________________

12. Cloning A polling organization is investigating public opinion about cloning. They phone a random
sample of 1200 adults, asking each person one of these questions (randomly chosen):
A: Do you favor allowing doctors to use cloned cells in attempts to find cures for such terrible
diseases as Alzheimers, diabetes, and Parkinsons?
B: Should research scientists be allowed to use cloned human embryos in their experiments?
Which question do you expect will elicit greater support for cloning? Explain. What kind of bias is this?

13. Sweet potato pie Sam is preparing sweet potato pies as his dessert for Thanksgiving. The store he
shops at sells six sweet potatoes in a bag. He has found that each bag will contain 0, 1, or 2 bad sweet
potatoes. Based on experience he estimates that there will be no bad sweet potatoes in 40% of the bags,
one bad sweet potato in 30% of the bags, and two bad sweet potatoes in the rest. Conduct a simulation
to estimate how many bags Sam will have to purchase to have three dozen sweet good potatoes.
a) Describe how you will use a random
b) Show two trials by clearly labeling the random
number table to conduct this simulation.
number table given below. Specify the outcome
for each trial.
Trial
Simulation
Outcome
#1

#2

5 7 8 2 1

7 6 3 0 9

6 3 5 0 8

2 9 4 1 8

1 3 0 2 6

3 4 9 9 3

5 4 6 3 6

1 7 8 7 7

c) State your conclusion.

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14. Moods A headline in the New York Times announced Research shows running can alter ones moods.
The article reported that researchers gave a Personality Assessment Test to 231 males who run at least
20 miles a week, and found statistically significant personality differences between the runners and the
male population as a whole. Do you think the headline was appropriate? Explain.

15. Property taxes Administrators of the fire department are concerned about the possibility of
implementing a new property tax to raise moneys needed to replace old equipment. They decide to
check on public opinion by having a random sample of the citys population.
a. Several plans for choosing the sample are proposed. Write the letter corresponding to the sampling
strategy in the blank next to each plan.
_____i.

_____ii.
_____iii.
_____iv.
_____v.

The city has five property classifications: single family homes,

apartments, condominiums, temporary housing (hotel and
campgrounds), and retail property. Randomly select ten residents from
each category.
Each property owner has a 5-digit ID number. Use a random number
table to choose forty numbers.
At the start of each week, survey every tenth person who arrives at the
city park.
Randomly select a housing classification (say, apartments) and survey
all the people who live in that property classification.
Have each firefighter survey 10 of his/her neighbors.

A. convenience
B. stratified
C. simple
D. cluster
E. systematic

b. Briefly explain why plan iv suggested above, sampling an entire housing classification, might be
biased. Be sure to name the kind(s) of bias you describe.

c. Name and briefly describe the kind of bias that might be present if the administration decides that
instead of subjecting people to a random sample theyll just
i. interview people about the new property tax at a fire station open house.

ii. ask people who are willing to be taxed to sign a petition.

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16. Grape juice and blood pressure Researchers who wanted to see if drinking grape juice could help
people lower their blood pressure got 120 non-smokers to volunteer for a study. They measured each
persons blood pressure and then randomly divided the subjects into two groups. One group drank a
glass of grape juice every day while the other did not. After sixty days the researchers measured
everyones blood pressure again. They reported that differences in changes in blood pressure between
the groups were not statistically significant.
a. Was this an experiment or an observational study? Explain briefly.

b. Briefly explain what not statistically significant means in this context.

c. Briefly explain why the researchers randomly assigned the subjects to the groups.

d. Since everyones blood pressure was measured at the beginning and at the end of the study, the
researchers could have simply looked at the grape juice drinkers to see if their blood pressure
changed. Briefly explain why the researchers bothered to include the control group.

e. Briefly explain why the researchers studied only non-smokers.

f.

Other researchers now plan to replicate this study using both smokers and non-smokers. Briefly
describe the design strategy you think they should use.

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AP Statistics Test B Gathering Data Part III Key

1. A 2. A

3. C

4. D

5. B

6. B

7. B

8. A

9. E

10. D

11. Insulators
a. Material for insulators
b. 2 baking temp and cooling method
c. 8
d. Likeliness to break during adverse weather
12. Cloning
The first question will elicit greater support for cloning. The wording of the question appeals to
the emotions of the respondent. The second question conjures up images of scientists
experimenting on humans and cloned embryos, and will elicit less support. This is a form of
response bias.
13. Sweet potato pie
a. Use the digits 03 to represent bags with 6 good sweet potatoes (none bad), digits 46 to
represent bags with five good sweet potato(one bad), and digits 79 to represent bags with
four good sweet potatoes(two bad). Look at each single digit of the random number table to
determine whether you have 4, 5, or 6 good sweet potatoes in the bag. Continue this until
the cumulative count is at least 36 good sweet potatoes.
b. Show two trials by clearly labeling the random number table given below. Specify the
outcome for each trial.
Trial

#1

Simulation
# good:

5 7 8

3 0 9

5 4 4

Total good: 5 9 13 19 25
6 3 5 0 8

#2

# good:

Outcome

29 34 40
2 9 4 1 8

1 3

4 9 9 3

6 6

Total good: 6 12 18 24 29
5 4 6 3 6

35 40
1 7 8 7 7

Need to purchase 8 bags

to get at least three
dozen good sweet
potatoes.
Need to purchase 7 bags
to get at least three
dozen good sweet
potatoes.

c. According to my simulation, it will take (on average) 7.5 bags of sweet potatoes to get at
least three dozen good sweet potatoes for the pies.

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14. Moods
No, this was not a controlled experiment, so no determination of cause and effect can be made.
Perhaps people in better moods are more likely to be runners, or perhaps something in their
body chemistry makes some people enjoy running and also impacts their personality.
15. Property taxes
a. Several plans for choosing the sample are proposed. Name the sampling strategy in each.
i. (B)stratified
ii. (C)simple
iii. (E)systematic
iv. (D)cluster
v. (A)convenience
b. The housing classification selected might not be a representative group of the population
(undercoverage). In fact the housing classification might be made up of residents with
similar viewpoints on property taxes, different from the views of the nonresidents.
c.
i. Convenience sample: People attending a fire station open house are likely to be very
supportive of the fire station and not be representative of the entire city
(undercoverage).
ii. Voluntary Response Bias: individuals with strong opinions or who have reason to need
fire equipment would sign. (Or possibly no one volunteers to pay an extra tax.)
16. Grape juice and blood pressure
a. Experiment there was an application of a treatment, grape juice, to groups containing
randomly assigned subjects with a comparison of the blood pressure across the treatment
groups.
b. There was not a large reduction of blood pressure between the group who drank grape juice
and the group who did not drink grape juice; the reduction could be reasonably attributed to
random variation (or sampling error).
c. Randomly assigning subjects to groups allows us to equalize the effects of unknown or
uncontrollable sources of variation.
d. The control group provided a basis for comparison after the sixty days to determine if the
group drinking grape juice had lower blood pressure because of the juice. Maybe
everyones blood pressure naturally drops at a certain time of the year.
e. By studying only non-smokers the researchers were trying to reduce any impact the
smoking might have had on blood pressure. The researchers were trying to remove any
confounding the smoking might have made on blood pressure.
The new study must be blocked by whether a person smokes or not. Half of each group
would then be randomly assigned to the grape juice or no grape juice groups.
f. Block by smoking status, randomly assigning people in each block to the treatments.
Compare blood pressure after 60 days within each block.

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AP Statistics Test C Gathering Data Part III

Name _____________________

___ 1. If we wish to compare the average PSAT scores of boys and girls taking AP Statistics at this high
school, which would be the best way to gather these data?
A) census
B) SRS
C) stratified sample
D) observational study
E) experiment
___ 2. A factory has 20 assembly lines producing a popular toy. To inspect a representative sample of 100
toys, quality control staff randomly selected 5 toys from each lines output. Was this a simple random
sample?
A) Yes, because the toys were selected at random.
B) Yes, because each toy produced had an equal chance to be selected.
C) Yes, because a stratified sample is a type of simple random sample.
D) No, because not all combinations of 100 toys could have been chosen.
E) No, because toys do not come off the assembly line at random.
___ 3. Which is true about sampling?
I. An attempt to take a census will always result in less bias than sampling.
II. Sampling error is usually reduced when the sample size is larger.
III. Sampling error is the result of random variations and is always present.
A) I only
B) II only
C) III only
D) II and III
E) all three
___ 4. The owner of a car dealership planned to develop strategies to increase sales. He hoped to learn the
reasons why many people who visit his car lot do not eventually buy a car from him. For one month he
asked his sales staff to keep a list of the names and addresses of everyone who came in to test drive a
car. At the end of the month he sent surveys to the people who did not buy the car, asking them why.
About one third of them returned the survey, with 44% of those indicating that they found a lower price
elsewhere. Which is true?
I.
The population of interest is all potential car buyers.
II.
This survey design suffered from non-response bias.
III.
Because it comes from a sample 44% is a parameter, not a statistic.
A) I only
B) II only
C) I and II only
D) II and III only
E) I, II, and III
___ 5. Does regular exercise decrease the risk of cancer? A researcher finds 200 women over 50 who
exercise regularly, pairs each with a woman who has a similar medical history but does not exercise,
then follows the subjects for 10 years to see which group develops more cancer. This is a
A) survey
B) retrospective study
C) prospective study
D) randomized experiment
E) matched experiment
___ 6. Which is important in designing a good experiment?
I.
Randomization in assigning subjects to treatments.
II.
Control of potentially confounding variables.
III.
Replication of the experiment on a sufficient number of subjects.
A) I only
B) I and II
C) I and III
D) II and III
E) all three
___ 7. Can watching a movie temporarily raise your pulse rate? Researchers have 50 volunteers check
their pulse rates. Then they watch an action film, after which they take check their pulse rates once
more. Which aspect of experimentation is present in this research?
A) a placebo
B) blinding
C) randomization
D) a control group
E) none of these
___ 8. In an experiment the primary purpose of blocking is to reduce
A) bias.
B) confounding.
C) randomness.
D) undercoverage.

E) variation.

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___ 9. To check the effect of cold temperatures on the batterys ability to start a car researchers purchased
a battery from Sears and one from NAPA. They disabled a car so it would not start, put the car in a
warm garage, and installed the Sears battery. They tried to start the car repeatedly, keeping track of the
total time that elapsed before the battery could no longer turn the engine over. Then they moved the car
outdoors where the temperature was below zero. After the car had chilled there for several hours the
researchers installed the NAPA battery and repeated the test. Is this a good experimental design?
A) Yes
B) No, because the car and the batteries were not chosen at random.
C) No, because they should have tested other brands of batteries, too.
D) No, because they should have tested more temperatures.
E) No, because temperature is confounded by brand.
___ 10. Twenty dogs and 20 cats were subjects in an experiment to test the effectiveness of a new flea
control chemical. Ten of the dogs were randomly assigned to an experimental group that wore a collar
containing the chemical, while the others wore a similar collar without the chemical. The same was
done with the cats. After 30 days veterinarians were asked to inspect the animals for fleas and evidence
of flea bites. This experiment is
A) completely randomized with one factor: the type of collar
B) completely randomized with one factor: the species of animal
C) randomized block, blocked by species
D) randomized block, blocked by type of collar
E) completely randomized with two factors
11. Public opinion A member of the City Council has proposed a resolution opposing construction of a
new state prison there. The council members decide they want to assess public opinion before they vote
on this resolution. Below are some of the methods that are proposed to sample local residents to
determine the level of public support for the resolution. Match each with one of the listed sampling
techniques.
___ a) Place an announcement in the newspaper asking people to call their council representatives to
register their opinions. Council members will tally the calls they receive.
___ b) Have each council member survey 50 friends, neighbors, or co-workers.
1
___ c) Have the Board of Elections assign each voter a number, then select
2
400 of them using a random number table.
3
___ d) Go to a downtown street corner, a grocery store, and a shopping
4
mall; interview 100 typical shoppers at each location.
5
___ e) Randomly pick 50 voters from each election district.
6
___ f) Call every 500th person in the phone book.
7
8
___ g) Randomly pick several city blocks, then randomly pick 10 residents
from each block..

cluster
convenience
judgment
multistage
simple (SRS)
stratified
systematic
voluntary response

___ h) Randomly select several city blocks; interview all the adults living on each block.
12. Telephone poll The City Council decides to conduct a telephone poll. Pollsters ask a carefully chosen
random sample of adults this question: Do you favor the construction of a new prison to deal with the
high level of violent crime in our State? In what way might the proportion of Yes answers fail to
accurately reflect true public opinion? Explain briefly. What kind of bias is this?

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13. M&Ms The Mars candy company starts a marketing campaign that puts a plastic game piece in each
bag of M&Ms. 25% of the pieces show the letter M, 10% show the symbol &, and the rest just say
Try again. When you collect a set of three symbols M, &, and M you can turn them in for a
free bag of candy. About how many bags will a consumer have to buy to get a free one? Use a
simulation to find out.
a. Explain how you will use the random numbers listed below to conduct your simulation.

b. Carefully label your simulation for 2 trials.

Trial #
1
2

69074

91976

The run
33584

48324

77928

31249

Outcome
94138

87637

64710

02295

c. State your conclusion.

14. Preservative Leather furniture used in public places can fade, crack,
and deteriorate rapidly. An airport manager wants to see if a leather
preservative spray can make the furniture look good longer. He buys
eight new leather chairs and places them in the waiting area, four near
the south-facing windows and the other four set back from the
windows as shown. He assigned the chairs randomly to these spots.
a. Use the random numbers given to decide which chairs to spray.
Explain your method clearly.
32219 00597 86374

WINDOWS

b. Briefly explain why your assignment strategy is important in helping the manager assess the
effectiveness of the leather preservative.

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15. Candy packaging Marketing researchers wonder if the color and type of a candys packaging may
influence sales of the candy. They manufacture test packages for chocolate mints in three colors (white,
green, and silver) and three types (box, bag, and roll). Suspecting that sales may depend on a
combination of package color and type, the researchers prepare nine different packages, then market
them for several weeks in convenience stores in various locations. In this experiment.
a. what are the experimental units?

____________________

b. how many factors are there?

_______

c. how many treatments are there?

_______

d. what is the response variable?

____________________

16. Aggressiveness A recent study evaluated elementary age children for aggressiveness. This study found
that the children who played video games were more likely to engage in aggressive or violent play at
school. The researchers said the difference was statistically significant.
a. Briefly explain what statistically significant means in this context.

b. The news media reported that this study proved that playing computer games causes children to be
aggressive or violent. Briefly explain why this conclusion is not justified.

c. But perhaps it is true. We wonder if playing computer games can lead to aggressive or violent
behavior in elementary school children. We find 50 young children whose families volunteer to
participate in our research. Design an appropriate experiment. (You need not explain how to
randomize.)

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AP Statistics Test C Gathering Data Part III Key

1. A

2. D

3. D

4. C

5. C

6. E

7. E

8. E

9. E

11. Public opinion

a) 8
b) 2

c) 5

d) 3

e) 6

f) 7

g) 4

h) 1

10. C

12. Telephone poll

Response bias: the wording will induce people to answer yes, so the poll will overestimate
the publics support.
13. M&Ms
a. Check random numbers 2 digits at a time. Let 00-24 = M, 25-34 = &, 35-99 = Try
Again. Go across the row until you have two Ms and an &. Count the number of bags.
b. #1: 69 = TA, 07 = M, 49 = TA, 19 = M, 76 = M, 33 = &. 6 bags
#2: 48 = TA, 32 = &, 47/79 = TA, 28/31 = &, 24 = M, 96/47 = TA, 10 = M.
10 bags
c. This simulation estimates you would have to buy an average of 8 bags to get a free one.
14. Preservative
a. Use one digit at a time, ignoring 0, 9 and any repeated numbers. Choose two chairs from
each row. (Example: 3, 2, 5, and 7)
b. Windows may play a role in the leathers life (sun, heat, etc.). Blocking can reduce
variability from that source.
15. Candy packaging
a. packages
b. 2
c. 9
d. sales
16. Aggressiveness
a. The difference in aggressiveness was greater than random variation might reasonably be
expected to produce.
b. This was not a controlled experiment, so no determination of cause and effect can be made.
Perhaps only violent kids like to play video games.
c. Randomly divide the kids into two groups of 25. Have one group play video games, and
prevent the other group from playing them for a period of time. Have observers evaluate
the kids aggressiveness on the playground. Dont let the kids know the purpose of the
experiment or that they are being observed. And dont let the evaluators know which kids
are in each group. Compare the aggressiveness ratings for the two groups.

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Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc.